Bennett's Book Nook

by Katelyn Grimes

Bennett's Book Nook

by Katelyn Grimes

Best Seller

The book "A Child Called It", by Dave Pelzer is about a child named David. He is abused at home daily with cruel and unusual punishments from his mother. His father eventually left, or seemed to disappear from David's life. Then he and his two other brothers are left to defend by themselves against their insane mother. Mother doesn't really pay any attention to anyone else in the family except David. He is always the main target to her cruel punishments, from beatings to starvation. At one point in the story, David ends up living down stairs in the basement. It was not always like this. The mother was not always so crazy. In the early days, she always was the fun and creative loving mom. Always finding new places to vacation and visit. Then later on in the story, David starts to mention that he noticed that his mom was getting sick. At first I thought it was a physical illness, but then it hit me. She was totally mental. My heart ached reading this, knowing that all of this is based on a true story. But sometimes it has to be heard. You cant just put a cover up on things like this or these problems will never be solved. I would rate this book with a five star status. While I was reading this, I teared up in some places. Yet at the same time, I never seemed to gain the ability to set it down. I wanted to find out if David would make it, somehow find a way to fight for a way out of that abusive situation. If I were to rate this book, I would rate it at a high five star status. The words the author uses to describes the situations he experiences makes it feel as if you are right there with him. It was like a movie playing in my head because of the amazing diction.

My personal opinion would be that this is indeed a best seller. This awful way of living needs to be made public so that we can attack the problem at its core. But don't take my word for it, look at these other book reviews.

These next links will take you to review articles for "A Child Called It" My personal opinion on this book is a five out of five stars, but to widen you horizons, here are some other opinions. Note, not all people agree with my five star ratings. I've even seen some that gave the book a one star or lower, but eh, its their opinion. I'm not one to judge.

Top Ten List

page 3. "Smack! Mother hits me in the face, and I topple to the floor."

- Literally, this is one of the first lines of the book. I gasped out loud at this part, how can any women want to abuse her own son!?

page 4. " I finish the dishes, then my other chores. For my reward I receive breakfast- leftovers from one of my brothers cereal bowls."

- Here is the proof that he is being starved like a caged animal.

page 5. " Tell em, Tell em you ran into the door." Then in a voice she rarely uses with me she states " Have a nice day!"

- No child should ever have to lie about where he got a bruise or cut. David always has to pretend that all his cuts and scraps are made by accident.

page 5. " Moments later, the school nurse comes out and leads me into her office, where we go through the normal routine."

- I wondered what the nurse wanted with David, but as I read a little more into it, he had to go through daily checkups to see if any new wounds showed up from his mother. It said she choked when she saw his scar where his own mother stabbed him. This broke me. But for some reason I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to see what would become of David.

page 6. " My long sleeve shirt has more holes than swiss cheese. It's the same shirt I've worn for about two years. Mother has me wear it every day as her way to humiliate me."

- There is cruel and unusual punishment, then there's just straight up inhumane. this is one of those inhumane moments...

page 7 " And that, " she says as she takes a deep swallow, "Is where she stabbed you?"

- Well then, if you can listen closely, you can hear my heart breaking into a million pieces...

- Poor boy, he thinks it is a bad thing that this is happening, but he is being taken away from this life if living hell.

Thematically Speaking

I would say the theme for this book would be "Abuse". David was abused for most of his childhood, terrorized by his mother and her wicked ways. All throughout the book, he describes how he had to fight to survive every day. David was nearly starved to death because his mother fed him scraps. Soon he had to resort to stealing food from the his class' lunch boxes just to feed himself. No child should ever have to live through this horror. A child should feel safe when he comes home every day, not turned to stone from pure fear that he might receive beatings. David had the strong will to survive and wouldn't give in to his mother, no matter what she did to him. David survived the impossible. He practically went to hell and back. Its amazing to hear a story about a child so young having to grow up so fast to live in such a harsh and unforgiving world. This is definatly a five star book. To be honest, this book has been on my bucket list of epic reads for a while, and I am glad I got a chance to finally read it.